Audit of Marketing Activity of an Enterprise: Theoretical and Practical Aspects

In a harsh competitive environment, the ongoing analysis and monitoring of the marketing program implementation, that was developed on the basis of research and market forecasting, analysis of internal and external state of the enterprise, market behavior strategy and tactics development, is one of the urgent demands. The purpose of the article is to study the practical aspects of marketing audit and to develop practical recommendations for its optimization. General scientific methods of research are applied: induction and deduction, refinement and classification. The author summarizes that the task of managers is to master the peculiarities of conducting marketing audits at an enterprise and effectively use their results for adjusting their activity. The article clarifies the content load of marketing audit concept, substantiates the stages of its conduct at the enterprise, defines the tasks and outlines the advantages of its application. It is defined that the important result of marketing audit is an opportunity to specify the factors that form the economic potential of the enterprise. The following main elements of control and analytical system of the enterprise are distinguished: situational analysis is the preliminary analytical stage of marketing planning; marketing control; marketing revision; marketing audit. The structure of the information flow during the marketing audit has been generalized: legal and regulatory framework; information about the results of marketing activity; accounting; integrated information. This list of analyzed information during the audit allows to cover all possible problem areas, and define necessary steps to improve marketing activities. It is concluded that audit of marketing activity is an effective, special and key factor in the regulation and control of enterprises' activities. It gives an opportunity to timely define shortcomings in company's work and effectively eliminate them, therefore, it is a strategic methodological basis for changes in enterprise's activities. Further research will be devoted to marketing audit planning and performance.